Reviews of iDevBooks Math Apps

Reviews or mentions of all iDevBooks math apps

"iDevBooks is a set of 20 math apps for iPhone and iPad by Esa Helttula. Each app explores a particular mathematical concept. The interface is very basic and thus quite easy to use, and since each concept is contained in its own app, you aren’t stuck buying a large, expensive app which you might only use a small percentage of. These apps get three thumbs up from Edudemic because they’re so easy to use, and focused on making the concepts easy to learn rather than being bogged down with bells, whistles, and ads."

"iDevBooks– Educational Math Apps are par excellence when it comes to educational tools! This suite of apps are a must-have for any school using mobile devices as well as parents who want to encourage mastery of math concepts for their children."

"The immediate and correct feedback to the learner that the app provides is also a huge plus, and something a student does not get when completing a typical paper and pencil worksheet or even other educational math software. This is a unique and powerful app that math teachers, parents, and best of all, students are going to love.

Kelly Tenkely: "How Long Division can enrich learning: What makes the Long Division app so great is the immediate feedback it gives to students. They don’t work through an entire problem before realizing their mistake, but instead can take a closer look and re-solve as they go to come up with the correct answer. The app is very easy to use and has some nice customization options that will appeal to students using it to study."

"Be still my beating heart! My 5th Grader is learning long division and sometimes working through the problems step by step is confusing to her. So you can imagine how excited I AM with this app, named Long Division, that translates long division into a color coordinated step by step process and has a number key pad so that the student can input their numbers every step of the way. Then, the numbers slide from the problem, into their proper place in the problem. Very visual and memorable!"

Common Sense Media: “Kids can learn about values and conversions among fractions, decimals, and percentages. These are often difficult concepts for kids to grasp, but they are a primary focus of many Common Core math standards. Creating models is an excellent way to help kids visualize parts of a whole, and they will likely be doing this often in the classroom and during formal assessments. By using this tool, kids can divide the models into as many as 10,000 units on grids and as many as 360 units on circles. Kids can also represent mixed numbers using multiple whole grids or circles. These many options allow for kids of varying abilities to use the tool.”

Teachers With Apps: “There are no problems to complete or solve, this app is designed as a handy tool to help student’s build conceptual understanding of these three related concepts. From the expressions on the faces of the students we worked with this Visual Fractions Decimals and Percentages provides just that in a very user friendly format, this app can make all the difference in establishing a better understanding for all future work in this realm of math.”

Randall Palmer: “The app itself is easy to use and provides a powerful tool for students to explore the relationships between the many ways a number can be presented. For our students on the autism spectrum, visual processing is usually the preferred learning style. The V F & D app appeals to our visual learners and provides them with a much needed tool for helping to understand our numbering system.”

Jenny Williams: “It’s a great deal of fun to just play around with this app as a whole, making patterns, pictures, and repeatedly filling up the grids and circles. Kids who love math will enjoy spending time with this in an unstructured way, but for most it is best used as part of educational lessons, either with homeschooling, or to help kids visualize fractions, decimals, and percentages for their lessons at school. Using this app for real life applications is the most valuable way to use it.”

“Unlike most of Esa’s other math apps, there are no problems to solve in Visual Fractions Decimals and Percentages. This is an exploratory app that is actually fun to mess around with and learn the concepts behind these mathematical principles. I am an English teacher on purpose. I can see students exploring the app independently and the teacher using the app via an Apple TV to share concepts with the class.”

Jenny Williams: “I highly recommend it for any kid who is learning their multiplication tables, or who needs a more visual way to approach the subject. I also highly recommend all of Esa Helttula’s math apps, also available in the iTunes store.”

"Multiplication Table is breath taking. Powerful, under-stated, and focused on the conceptual exploration and understanding of the multiplication tables; I’ve never seen anything like it. Being so strongly visual and mathematically oriented this app is a bit tricky to describe in words, though I’ve tried in my description above. Having it in-hand and exploring its functions is the best way to get to know this app. Ah-hah moments will quickly follow.”

Common Sense Media: “Order of Operations by iDev Books is an excellent tool for targeted practice. And kids are doing more than just memorizing concepts: Comprehension is strongly supported by the visual display of each step as kids evaluate expressions. Immediate hints guide kids who struggle to remember and follow the rules, and the options to set varying levels of difficulty make it easy for kids with varying abilities to use the tool.”

Kelly Tenkely: "The step by step animation and guidance will help students get the column method of multiplication down in no time. The ability to enter their own numbers means that students can input problems from a math curriculum or text-book and work through the step by step process with any problem. Your reluctant math students will love this app, it will act as their own personal tutor sitting with them and encouraging them on!"

"My oldest kid has been struggling with long multiplications for a while. We have been practicing and practicing. Doing the traditional way on paper is ok but nothing really exciting. He is so reluctant to do it. Thanks to the iPod, it all changed few weeks ago when I downloaded the Long Multiplication App for the iPod or iPhone.

Don’t expect your kids to go crazy and be like “thank you so much mum for this app” ... it is still straight forward math and needs to be introduced as a help and support tool to the process of learning long multiplication. We work it out at during homework time and it does wonders, my son actually enjoys doing long multiplication, it is a nice break.

Most kids enjoy doing some extra long multiplication with this math app. Kids are given the opportunity to solve the problems step by step and each step is animated. It is a great alternative to study and practice the standard pen and paper algorithm for multiplying large numbers. "

Dr Tim Pelton, assistant professor of Mathematics Education at the University of Victoria
Tap Tap Math:

"If your goal is to help your child to master the traditional subtraction algorithm then Column Subtraction may be the ideal App.

If your child is familiar with the traditional subtraction algorithm they will likely be able to improve their mastery of the procedure using this application. With the ‘show current operation’ option turned on, they are constantly reminded of the next step, which can lead to efficient practice of the procedure. Then by turning off the current operation your child is able to practice remembering the steps on his/her own. Because no wrong entries are allowed the app provides a passive form of positive reinforcement and your child will likely improve in both confidence and competence with respect to the procedure. However, to support learning and understanding in mathematics you need to take an active role in assessing understanding and challenging your child to explain their thinking."

Kelly Tenkely: "What makes the Column Addition app so great is the immediate feedback it gives to students. They don’t work through an entire problem before realizing their mistake, but instead can take a closer look and re-solve as they go to come up with the correct answer."

"All iDevBooks educational math apps are ideal to support parents and teachers. OK, let’s be honest, your kids might not ask for it or might not be super excited since it is straight forward math but for you – parents and teachers - iDevBooks educational math apps will really help you explain, teach and support kids with the tricky concept of Column Addition.

iDevBooks educational math apps make math enjoyable and entertaining. One of my sons was struggling with math and I must say the use of iDevBooks math apps has really helped him. He now enjoys his math.."

"The fifth grade teacher in our district that I co-teach with was so excited to learn of these apps, we couldn’t wait to share lattice multiplication with our students! The app does an incredible job of showing just how this concept works and helps the students “see” where the numbers go."

"Why your kid won't be able to put it down: The app has a great deal of potential as a step-by-step teaching tool, particularly for struggling learners. The app gives no negative feedback for mistakes, only useful feedback, and prompts to get students to the correct response."

"With school fully under way, and the first quarter almost complete, kids are finding their math classes are becoming more complex. Those children in 3rd to 8th grade are working with fractions which can be difficult, but with the right encouragement can be easily mastered. Fraction Math deals with positive and negative fractions, improper fractions, whole numbers and mixed numbers. The user can also reduce the resulting fractions. This app is loaded with helpful math information and you will find below many of the ways in which kids can simplify learning and preparing math assignments:"

"Todays lunch was with a team of fourth grade teachers asking them to check out two math apps and Grid Multiplication was one of them. I rallied my team of teachers together with the idea that we could use Grid Multiplication as one of the many applications that Esa Helttula has designed. As a school, we will be working on writing a grant to implement iPads in the classroom. If you haven’t written a grant before, you really need to find something that is going to make your grant stand out from all the rest. My hope is that many of Esa Helttula’s apps will be incorporated."